Energy Poverty in Developing Regions: Strategies, Indicators, Needs, and Technological Solutions

Abstract

This paper presents a critical review of the multidisciplinary work done on energy poverty in developing regions, a topic that presents remarkable differences with energy poverty in OECD countries. These efforts have resulted in the establishment of strategies to fight against energy poverty and to expand basic energy supplies (to leave no one behind, LNOB, one of the central statements on the Sustainable Development Agenda), in developing regions. Alongside they have produced the proposal of different indicators to characterize energy-poor households and their problems. These broad topics, currently in the spotlight, are linked with other long-term lines of research, such as the design and implementation of alternative technological solutions for sustainable and affordable energy supply or (as a part of the discussion on the concept of development) the conceptual identification of capabilities, needs, and rights that are energy-related. We discuss the different lines of work and the interactions of the different aspects.